Technologies are rapidly evolving and spreading, and their use in business usually becomes a competitive advantage. Moreover, they typically facilitate work by performing various tasks instead of people. For example, in freight transportation, they help drivers monitor the condition of the vehicle, protect and unload cargo, and find the optimal route. However, technologies such as autonomous trucks can be a threat to drivers’ jobs in the long term. The paper investigates this assumption by examining studies about the impact of technology on the automotive industry. Consequently, it became apparent that the problem can be slightly exaggerated, and a transition to autonomous technologies can still require human work.
The trucking industry is indispensable to the commodity supply chain and has undergone significant changes in recent years. Rapidly evolving technologies affect all spheres of human activity, and demand continuous studying, work improvements, and quick reaction. Cargo transportation as an area of activity has a high potential for improving and introducing a variety of technologies. However, their influence is not unambiguous, since on the one hand, they greatly facilitate life, and on the other, they can take a person’s workplace. For instance, one of the technologies that cause discussion is self-driving cars, which are possible thanks to GPS, cameras, and other systems. This innovation can solve the problem of drivers’ shortage, but also replace already working ones. Despite the fact that the technology is designed to make truck drivers’ work more comfortable, efficient, and safer, there are fears that they took drivers’ jobs.
Job Description
Commercial truck drivers are responsible for the timely delivery of cargo in good condition to the destination point. Sometimes, the duties of the driver may include unloading a car. The distance to which the load must be transported depends on the trucking company’s customers and can range from inner-city to interstate. Moreover, the products transported can also vary from food and household goods to hazardous materials.
Since drivers control heavy and large-sized cars, they need special training, attentiveness, and perseverance. To get the permission to drive heavy vehicles, a person has to receive a commercial driver’s license. To obtain a license, the driver must be over eighteen, or in the case of interstate transportation over twenty-one. Moreover, there are high requirements for health, and especially for the driver’s eyesight.
Although driving itself and caring for cargo are the primary responsibilities of truck drivers, they still have many smaller concerns. For example, the profession’s representatives must keep an activity logbook to comply with federal rules governing their schedule. These rules determine the maximum time to work and the minimum time to rest, contributing to road safety. Drivers inspect the vehicle and ensure that if necessary, there were signs indicating danger. An important responsibility is to plan a route that will be the most convenient and fastest. If the drivers work for a trucking company, their work can be coordinated and controlled from the center they need to contact periodically. All the minor tasks, and even the main ones, can already be carried out using technologies, or it will become possible in the future.
Technology Use
Truck owners and fleet managers are more likely to be interested in innovation than conventional car users, as they strive to be competitively capable. Technologies are developing extremely quickly, and the number of different systems that can be implemented in the truck and used to coordinate its work is vast. Mathews (2019), director of optimization and analytics at Sphere Management Inc., highlighted the most influenced freight aspects and examples of technologies used:
- Data leveraging simplifies the management of transportation, orders, coordination of the employees’ work;
- Optimization and analytics with Frontline and Google optimizer and other systems, as well as machine learning, facilitate decision-making;
- Cloud computing using AWS, or Azure increases efficiency and reduces costs.
These improvements are related precisely to the coordination of the entire fleet’s work and, although they help in the activity of drivers, are not focused on their primary tasks.
Driving by any transport has become more comfortable and safer thanks to innovations, and these characteristics are beneficial for driving a heavy vehicle. Besides the driver’s knowledge and skills, a serviceable car is the most critical requirement to ensure a safe ride. Trucks are difficult to maintain, and damages that could be prevented cause significant money losses. With the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, keeping large transport in good condition is much easier and more efficient (Partida, 2020). Obtaining data on the truck’s condition using sensors and software makes it possible to prevent problems, which, in turn, helps to avoid accidents, delays, and other issues. Moreover, such technologies will become useful for transporting fragile and sensitive goods, providing data on what is happening in the container.
Technologies simplify both primary and minor tasks drivers should do during their workday. For example, the use of technology frees people from the need to unload and carry heavy cargo. Journalist Aaron Marsh (2017), who directly monitors work in the freight industry, highlights the most impressive truck technology achievements. Dynamic routing facilitates the most optimal route choice taking into account weather conditions, previous trips, the need for rest and refueling.
Cameras protect against false insurance claims, and electronic logging devices record the driver’s hours of work to comply with legislative standards. Additional road safety is also facilitated by collision mitigation technologies, which use radar, car stabilization programs, and other measures (Marsh, 2017). One more innovations example – trackers installed on trucks help plan the route and find the vehicle location.
Thus, the application of the described technologies makes the difficult work of commercial drivers a little easier. Moreover, they prevent accidents and breakdowns, saving additional owners’ costs. However, there is another side – technology can reach such a high level that it takes work from people. According to Fritschy and Spinler’s (2019) study on potential scenarios for changes possible thanks to innovations in the automotive and logistics industry, such technology as autonomous trucks will change the driver’s profession. They will simultaneously solve the problem of their lack but will also have social consequences. However, changes cannot be stopped, and industry representatives should follow trends.
Autonomous Trucks
Leading IT and auto companies recently support the trend of developing autonomous cars. The introduction of such technology allows autopilot to manage transport. They are cyber-physical systems in which mechanical components are supplemented by information and communication technology (Brenner & Herrmann, 2018). If this idea can be applied to a regular car, then the same can be done with trucks. The use of automated road transportation saves money from customers and owners of the fleet.
Nevertheless, they will also have a direct impact on driver employment. For example, Smith (2018) claims that about three hundred thousand commercial drivers can lose their jobs. New technologies have already begun to destroy the traditional economy and the usual lifestyle. Various robots will take on a significant part of the monotonous and routine work that people do today. Human labor will become unprofitable compared to the performance of robots.
Cargo transportation stakeholders – owners, managers, and other not drivers, have high expectations for autonomous trucks. It is supposed that they will be safer, thanks to new systems, economical in fuel consumption, and will not need drivers. However, its introduction may have unexpected consequences; for example, autonomous transport can cause panic when other drivers cannot see a person on such a heavy car (“How autonomous trucking,” n.d.). The consequences of drivers’ leaving can be compared to what happened when the state-to-state highway system was introduced. Drivers began to drive by, and many prosperous cities fell into complete disrepair.
Losing a job by many people does not look like an attractive prospect. However, the history of computers’ appearance, without which it is impossible to imagine modern life, led to the emergence of new professions and people managed to adapt to a new reality. In order not to get under an autonomous truck, people need to learn how to control and service it. Moreover, Gittleman and Monaco (2019) argue that the number of truck drivers is not so large as a society can think, and all their duties cannot be replaced by self-driving transport. Thus, it can be supposed that fears about truck drivers’ job elimination are exaggerated.
Despite the potential advantages of autonomous driving technologies, additional obstacles need to be solved before their implementation. Self-driving trucks’ creation and operation require investment in building a new infrastructure for their production and support. For example, this mode of transport’s correct performance needs a high level of wireless communication for the roads on which they will travel.
Moreover, it is impossible to completely exclude a person from the process since, during transportation, various situations occur – accidents or a complex landscape. Such new technology and its application would also require the creation of regulatory legislation. Autopilot will also lead to changes in insurance companies’ work and can increase the cost of their services since security needs to be checked over time. Given such factors, Gittleman and Monaco (2020) are confident that significant changes will not occur soon. Many aspects require study and elaboration before using such technologies.
Conclusion
Modern enterprises are continually looking for ways to improve the efficiency and profitability of their work. Such a need is dictated by appearance of many competitors, the importance of standing out among them, and the speed of development of various market trends. As a result, many companies are using technology, which significantly simplifies and accelerates the workflow. The speed of their emergence forces companies to respond and implement new developments as quickly as possible. Innovation also has a notable impact on logistics and commercial truck drivers. They help to maintain communication with the center and coordinate the work.
It takes a lot of time for truck drivers to do such small tasks as logging or inspecting a car and other duties. Modern technologies can solve these problems by preventing breakdowns, creating electronic records, and accelerated analytics. Moreover, they also pick the best route, care for cargo, and prevent accidents.
However, innovation not only helps drivers, as there is a chance that they will replace them entirely through autonomous trucks in the future. Such technologies use sensors, scanners, cameras, and other means that drive a vehicle without a human. Their use can reduce wage waste, speed up cargo delivery, but many aspects still require work before implementation. For this reason, the widespread use of autonomous trucks is unlikely happening soon, and the status quo will continue for a particular time. Moreover, technological development usually involves creating new jobs, and resistance to such changes because of fear can be an obstacle to society’s growth.
References
Brenner W., & Herrmann A. (2018) An overview of technology, benefits and impact of automated and autonomous driving on the automotive industry. In: Linnhoff-Popien C., Schneider R., & Zaddach M. (Eds) Digital marketplaces unleashed (pp. 427-442). Springer. Web.
Fritschy, C., & Spinler, S. (2019). The impact of autonomous trucks on business models in the automotive and logistics industry – a Delphi-based scenario study. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 148, 119736. Web.
Gittleman, M. & Monaco, K. (2019). Automation isn’t about to make truckers obsolete. Harvard Business Review. Web.
Gittleman, M., & Monaco, K. (2020). Truck-driving jobs: Are they headed for rapid elimination? ILR Review, 73(1), 3-24. Web.
How autonomous trucking will affect the trucking industry. (n.d.). Redwood. Web.
Marsh, A. (2017). 7 truck technologies you need (and why). Fleet Owner. Web.
Mathews, B. (2019). The impact of technology on trucking. Inbound Logistics. Web.
Partida, D. (2020). How robotics and IoT are changing the trucking industry. Robotics Tomorrow. Web.
Smith, J. (2018). Self-driving technology threatens nearly 300,000 trucking jobs, report says. The Wall Street Journal. Web.